SDCA elects new leadership during annual convention

December 07, 2007

Pierre Ð The South Dakota Cattlemen's Association (SDCA) is pleased to announce the conclusion of another successful convention. Last week, the SDCA convention and trade show was held at the Watertown Event Center. A phenomenal line-up of educational speakers, along with the important committee meetings and the annual membership meeting educated and entertained SDCA members. We would like to thank the Coteau Hills Cattlemen for their help in making this one of our largest and most successful events ever! Earlier this year, an Organizational Review Task Force (ORTF) was appointed to review SDCA's structure and governing documents and make recommendations to assist us in more efficiently and effectively serving our members. The Task Force was asked to make recommendations for structural and by-laws changes that seek to help SDCA maintain an inclusive and representative process while creating passion and excitement for SDCA and instilling a greater sense of organizational ownership among our members. In the annual membership meeting, members approved a number of proposed changes to the by-laws that directly impact the leadership structure of SDCA. With the implementation of the by-laws changes, SDCA has expanded our officer team to include Scott Jones (Midland) as President, Todd Mortenson (Hayes) as 1st Vice President, Bryan Nagel (Springfield) as 2nd vice president, and Mike Stahly (Cavour) serving as Immediate Past President. Each of these officers were elected for one-year terms and will not be eligible to succeed themselves in their respective positions. In addition, the secretary and treasurer's positions were combined and Bill Slovek will serve on the officer team as the Secretary/Treasurer for a 2 year term. He may serve a maximum of 2 successive terms as Secretary/Treasurer. In addition to the officer restructuring, the SDCA Executive Committee was expanded to consist of 12 members, including the 5 officers, 5 new Regional Vice Presidents, and 2 Council representatives. SDCA's new Regional Vice Presidents will represent 5 geographic regions of the state including: Western, Northern, Southern, Northeastern, and Southeastern. Regional Vice Presidents will be elected for two-year terms with staggered elections according to region and they may serve a maximum of 2 consecutive terms. Newly elected Regional Vice Presidents include Jeff Smeenk, Western Region VP, Newell; Becky Walth, Northern Region VP, Glenham; Zay Norman, Southern Region VP, Hayes; Kirk Olson, Northeastern Region VP, Huron; and Corey Eich, Southeastern Region, VP; Canova. As outlined in the by-laws, Becky and Cory will serve two-year initial terms with elections slated for each odd-numbered year and Jeff, Kirk, and Zay will serve one-year initial terms with elections scheduled for each even-numbered year. The SDCA Board of Directors will now consist of 27 members instead of the previous 39 members, reducing the number of representatives per affiliate. Each affiliate will automatically receive one board representative with the opportunity to earn a second representative if they have more than 100 current SDCA members at the end of the membership year. SDCA producer members attending the annual membership meeting also approved a change in the quorum for regular board meetings. A quorum is still 51% of members, however, the board will be allowed to vote on agenda items published prior to the meeting without a 51% quorum present. Items added to the agenda during the meeting will continue to require a quorum to vote. This provides board members present the opportunity to conduct business for the association. The by-laws changes and leadership changes were effective last Thursday at the conclusion of the annual membership meeting. South Dakota Cattlemen's Association is working to advance the interests of South Dakota's Cattlemen through the representation and promotion of the beef industry.